I neat look into my Motherland…. created by Bill Crandall.
billcrandall:
The Waiting Room is the working title for my long-term photo series from Belarus. I’ve been shooting there since 2000, first driven by simple curiosity about this place supposedly stuck in a Soviet time-warp. As I spent more time and tried to really understand the situation on a more nuanced level, I realized that an underlying question was one of identity. Namely, how Belarus’ historically weak sense of national identity is a big part of what put them on a whole different evolutionary track than their geographical neighbors. If they face east there’s chaotic Russia, to the west is the expanding EU. Neither model feels like a good fit to many average Belarusians. Some chafe under the current political situation, but others fear change and are to some degree compliant with the status quo.
But the frequently-applied ‘frozen in time’ label is not quite fair. All places change, just in their own way and at their own speed. Belarus is no exception. I was there twice in 2009, and had a sense that Belarus is somehow finding itself, on its own terms, for better and worse. It isn’t becoming an appendage of Russia anymore than an outpost of Europe. It is becoming Belarus.
I hope this series gives a feeling of a people struggling to emerge, but not quite getting there. Not just yet anyway. The Belarusian people seem to understand that change will come when and how it will come. The fog of history hasn’t yet dissipated. In the meantime, they wait, and live.
My (American?) dream.
Here’s a little insight into my soul.
I’ve been contemplating a lot about the direction I want to take my life… My childhood dream has been to become an Oscar-winning filmmaker. Bigger part of my twenties though, I’ve been trying to live the “real life” - school, work, bills, and all that “exciting” junk that we all learn to occupy our minds with. My childhood dream weakened and receded into the farthest corner of my mind.
Luckily, I stay in touch with my soul and I keep honest with my heart. My heart told me, why not live your dream? Why not become an Oscar-winning filmmaker?
Indeed, why not?
Companies need to become content providers
According to The Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report, (shared with me by @JohnnieFirari) “those who follow a brand on Twitter seem to be engaged beyond deals or customer service: 23% cite “interesting or entertaining” content as their main reason. Perhaps this points to the emerging trend of brands needing to become content providers to better connect with consumers.”
I became aware of this trend mid-2009, when I started following Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary was a wine salesman before he became a host of his own online show, Wine Library TV, which eventually led to the explosion of his personal brand with several national TV appearances, multiple speaking engagements, book deals, numerous business opportunities, and ultimately, increased awareness and growth of his wine business.
If you are a business - any business, really - I am convinced that you can greatly benefit from creating your own online content around your product or service. Whatever you are - a wedding vendor, a health store, a hospital, a realtor, a lawyer - you should focus on creating engaging content, distributing it online and growing your own online community around it.
Are you already doing this? Are you thinking about doing this? What kind of content do you think your customers would enjoy interacting with? Let me know in the comments below.
Love the Internet! That was my main message to the Indianapolis Wedding Professionals Network at their meeting. Big THANK YOU to Andy Townsend from Cardinal Studios for videotaping.
